The present invention relates to electrostatic coating, and more particularly to an electrostatic coating cable maintenance device that detects a part having a conduction failure including breakage of a cable that connects a high voltage generator included in an electrostatic coater with a control panel installed at an exterior of a coating booth.
Electrostatic coating has the characteristic of having excellent coating efficiency since an atomized coating material is electrically charged and the electrically charged coating material is electrically attached to an object to be coated as is well known, and is widely used in coating of automobile bodies. Since a high voltage is indispensable for an electrostatic coating system, various maintenance steps are performed against leakage of a high voltage and for proper voltage application.
In order to cope with the problem of high voltage leakage caused by adherence of a coating material to the outer surface of an electrostatic coater, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-109054 proposes that a reference electrode is prepared at a position away from a high-voltage application electrode of the electrostatic coater, and when it is predicted that electrically charged coating material particle is in a state easily adhering to an electrostatic coater main body based on the value of a current flowing in the reference electrode, a coating state is controlled by controlling an ejection amount of the coating material, stopping application of a high voltage, stopping carrying-in of an object to be coated and the like.
In order to alleviate the problem caused by adherence of a coating material to the outer surface of an electrostatic coater, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-186884 proposes detecting the amplitude of a current flowing in a high voltage application path which includes a high voltage generator contained in the electrostatic coater, integrating the amplitude values of the current for a fixed time period when the amplitude of the current exceeds a predetermined value, and issuing an alarm when the integrated value exceeds a predetermined value.
In order to cope with the problem of high voltage leakage caused by adherence of a coating material to the outer surface of an electrostatic coater that is incorporated in a coating robot, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-29920 proposes connecting a lead wire to a cable connecting section that is provided at an end plate of the electrostatic coater, and detecting high voltage leakage through the lead wire. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-29920 discloses an entire outline of a maintenance device that is incorporated in a control panel that controls the electrostatic coater, for monitoring the electrostatic coater, and by the maintenance device, propriety of feedback control of a high voltage to be applied to the electrostatic coater, various kinds of high voltage leakage and the like are monitored.